


We're Only Breathing (Take Me Out Tonight)

by auroreanrave



Category: A Nightmare on Elm Street (Movies 1984-1994)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-10
Updated: 2019-01-10
Packaged: 2019-10-08 00:43:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17376272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/auroreanrave/pseuds/auroreanrave
Summary: After everything, after their friends and teachers have been found attacked or found dead, after Jesse and Lisa and Grady have conducted the ritual, have braved the horrors of Freddy Kruger and sent him screaming back to Hell, sealed inside his own ashes and tears until the end of time, Jesse collapses into a nap at Grady's house.





	We're Only Breathing (Take Me Out Tonight)

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all. This is literally born from me watching Nightmare on Elm Street 2 and picking up on the super-gay vibes and deciding to write a happy ending as is becoming my well-loved trade. Freddy is super, super-dead in this. Like, banished to an impossible-to-escape corner of Hell until the end of time and the universe sort-of dead. No spookiness or meanness here. Hope you enjoy this little fluff.
> 
> Title comes from Jordan Alexander's 'Take Me Out Tonight'.

After everything, after their friends and teachers have been found attacked or found dead, after Jesse and Lisa and Grady have conducted the ritual, have braved the horrors of Freddy Kruger and sent him screaming back to Hell, sealed inside his own ashes and tears until the end of time, Jesse collapses into a nap at Grady's house.

He's been running on pilfered Adderall and bottles of 5 Hour Energy from the mom and pop store in town, and Jesse's mind just gives out from under him once he and Grady and Lisa reach Grady's house. Grady's parents are away and Grady directs them, tired and bloodied, steering their shoulders despite their weak protests.

Lisa sinks into Grady's bed while Jesse gets the couch. His body unfolds and unravels, the feeling of relief cascading down him. As he gets swept away on a tidal wave of sleep, he thinks he images Grady's lips on his temple, and then it's nothing but darkness.

 

* * *

 

 

Jesse awakens twelve hours later, bleary and a little dehydrated and feeling a thousand times better. He spies the late afternoon sun through the curtains in Jesse's living room and hears the low murmur of the radio from the front porch.

He stretches and finds a sticky note on his bare arm that reads 'Help yourself to anything, I'll be around'. Jesse drains an entire can of Pepsi from the fridge and eats a handful of deli turkey like a savage because running around for several days on nothing more than energy stimulants and caffeine is not a good way to treat a human body.

After that, he emerges onto the front porch, to find Grady sat there. He's had a shower, judging by the wet hair clinging to the back of his neck and he's wearing shorts and a vest and is watching the sun make its way across the sky.

"Hey," Jesse manages, pulling himself away from the side view of Grady's muscles through the vest.

"Hey, man. You good?" Grady asks as Jesse sits next to him. They're close, so close Jesse can feel the warmth pouring off Grady.

"I mean... I think so? Feels like I'm coming out of a bad dream."

"Same. You slept like a log."

"Wow."

"Snored too. Like a pig."

"Oh, fuck you," Jesse laughs, shoving at Grady who tugs into a sideways hug.

"Where's Lisa?"

"Left a little while ago. Back to her folks. She's good. I think she set up a group text if you check your phone."

Grady heads inside to grab them a couple of drinks while Jesse checks his phone, texting his parents that he's fine and will be home for dinner, and chuckling at Lisa' new WhatsApp text chain (entitled "BEST FRIEND SQUAD").

They sip on a couple of caffeine-free Diet Cokes and watch as the sky turns from cerulean to mottled purple and pink, punctures of orange and gold.

"It's still... weird. I know he's dead, but still. Seeing the sky change. Makes me a bit worried."

"Hey," Grady says, turning to Jesse to face him. His face is warm and concerned, handsome and everything Jesse might ever want. "You're fine. I'm fine. Everyone is fine. We sealed that motherfucker back down the parts of Hell that are like... inconceivable."

"Promise?"

"Promise," Grady says, leaning in, and it's like two magnets pulled together by an irresistible force. Lips against lips, warm and sweet and a balm to everything. Grady curls around Jesse and deepens the kiss.

They kiss for what feels like hours until Jesse's mouth is sweet and kiss-sore, plump as a raspberry. The sky above them is a slate of midnight blue, stars gleaming.

"I, I thought you weren't - " Jesse says and Grady laughs, pulling him even closer.

"Before she left, Lisa... told me to sort my shit out. Get my head out of my ass. She even told me how much you liked me, Walsh."

"Steady on there, it wasn't that much."

"Oh, I'm expecting at least a sonnet on our next date. I'll be heartbroken if you don't."

"Next date?"

"Oh, didn't you hear? Saving each other's lives and defeating an ancient evil is a thousand percent a first date."

Jesse laughs, swinging his legs over into Grady's lap. "I think it was Teen Vogue, right?"

Grady grins at him, full of fondness as he pulls Jesse into his lap for another kiss. Against his lips and the rays of the setting sun, Jesse whispers, "I'll write you a thousand sonnets," and kisses him.

 


End file.
